The Ecuadorian authorities are cracking down on those who break its
banana laws with hefty fines.

The farm ministry said that
exporter Gropagro had been sanctioned for failing to pay the official
price of US$5.50 for 33,501 boxes of bananas, with the company now having to pay
US$184,255 for the fruit as well as a fine of US$4.6m.

Separately,
exporter Sedordinsa was penalised for failing to pay a grower for 204
boxes of fruit.

The official price per box of US$5.50 was multiplied by
204 and a fine of some US$28,050 imposed, leaving the company 72 hours to
pay a total of US$29,172.